Re: The Silk Road

Re: The Silk Road

Hi Mary...realised I left out your query on the century egg.
Also called century egg, thousand-year egg and Ming Dynasty egg, all of which are eggs that have been preserved by being covered with a coating of lime, ashes and salt before being shallowly buried for 100 days. The lime "petrifies" the egg, making it look like it's been buried for at least a century. The black outer coating and shell are removed to reveal a firm, amber-colored white and creamy, dark green yolk. The flavor is pungent and cheeselike. Eggs from chickens are generally used, though duck and goose eggs are also preserved in this manner. Hundred-year eggs are sold individually and can be found in Chinese markets. They will keep at room temperature (under 70ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â°F) for up to 2 weeks or in the refrigerator up to a month. These preserved eggs are usually eaten uncooked, either for breakfast or served as an appetizer, often with accompaniments such as soy sauce or minced ginger.
One different way you can use them is to use them in fried rice with a finely chopped preserved bottled chinese olive vegetable in oil, garlic and a bit of salted fish. Yum!

Re: The Silk Road

Yesssss...Figgy...they will be landing in a few hours...can't very well ask the pilot to turn around and fly back just for a pack of biscuits right? Hahaaa...it's ok no hurry at all,I can wait! Thanks anyway,hope you have fun with the new recipes. If you can take spicy food, might I suggest the otak otak for dinner tonight...it was very good indeed!

Re: The Silk Road

Hi Stefanie, Thanks for the Malay seafood recipe, sounds delish; and also for the detailed info. on the century eggs. I tried the recipe for the drummsticks, instead of drummsticks, I used thighs and they turned out fantabulous! I had friends over and NOTHING was left.....
I have always enjoyed going to Asian , Chinese markets and just browsing around. Some products I was familiar with and with others, I was at a total loss. Your recipes have helped me put two and two together. Many things had caught my attention, I just wasn't quite sure of which dish went with what / how to apply the product. Thanks for helping me expand my Chinese, Thai, Malay horizons........ So, you live by the beach man. That's awesome! I do as well. It's great to get into your vehicle and just cruise to the beach. I call it "my medicine". It relaxes me , so.........
I saw your recipe for the Mango Pudding. I love mangos. Another good one! Also, the Otak Otak and Hor Fun with "pickled" green chiles sound right up my alley, again. What can I say.....that "vinegary", spicy flavour, oh yeah.
Look forward to more. Muchas gracias, Senorita Stefanie. Take care!

Until next time Singapore,
Mary In Miami

P.S Thanks for the info. on the name of the greens. I'll check the markets to see if I can find them.

Re: The Silk Road

Hahaaa...that's a real horrid kinda wave eh...nothing like the return of saggy arms!
Anyway...enough gross stuff...so...the thai chicken recipe was GOOOOOD eh?
It's always great to experiment and play around with chinese/ethnic foodstuff. Just like I try new foods I don't really see around that is common to u guys,like that day when I tried chorizo for the 1st time in a paella,bet you guys have lotsa chorizo all the time!

Let's go Indian today...here's a nice snack for the TV when the girls are over, Bombay potatoes!

HOW:
Parboil potatoes for 5 mins in boiling salted water to get them going
Heat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
Heat butter/ghee with a tsp or so of oil to prevent burned butter, when it's fairly hot, fry spices till fragrant. Add a couple tbsp of water to form a paste. Mix potatoes in and coat in paste.
Bake in oven till crisp and browned. Top with coriander and mix in.
Spear on c o c k tail sticks to eat, delish!
Better make lots, they disappear fast I tell you...good with ice-cold beer.

Re: The Silk Road

Hi Figgy hope you liked the prawn dumplings...here's another dim sum restaurant fav for you...it's Siew Mai...an open face dumpling. Great with a sweet chilli sauce/the same dip for the prawn dumpling.

Finely minced the pork and shrimp meat, water chestnuts
and mushrooms (stems removed) and season with the soy sauce, salt,
sugar and sesame oil. Squeeze through the fingers until sticky then chill for 30 minutes.

Place a spoonful of the filling on each wonton wrapper and press the pastry
up around the filling so that it almost meets at the top. Press a small amount of inexpensive fish/prawn roe on top if desired. Arrange the dumplings in an oiled steaming basket or on an
oiled plate and steam, tightly covered, over high heat for 10 minutes.
Serve with a fragrant chinese jasmine tea/ chrysantemum tea.

Re: The Silk Road

we had prawn dumplings and mango pudding [the dumplings took so long to make the fishcakes are going to have to wait until tomorrow!!!!!]

anyway - the prawn dumplings came out really well, that pastry is AMAZING!!!! actually now is the bit where i have to confess i did an experiment on your recipe, because i'm allergic to wheat!!!

anyway, i used 1/3 potato starch, 1/3 tapioca starch and 1/3 corn starch and it worked PERFECTLY!!!!! it was beautiful, silky dough, it handled really well steamed up a treat, which i was very happy about as you can imagine, it being a total gamble every time i try a new recipe with alternative flours. rolling them and putting the dumplings together was great fun and we made a great big mess, which is one of my favourite pastimes!! also i added a bit of minced pork to the filling, YUUUUM!! they were beautiful!

the mango pudding was ok, i am also allergic to dairy products so i substituted coconut for the milk. but when i was making it i suddenly remembered why i haven't used agar agar for so long, that stuff drives me CRACKERS!!!! it went all chunky and was actually a bit of a gross texture, although the flavour of the whole thing was great.

do you have any tips for using agar without it forming gluey little chunks???

using lard in the pastry for the dumplings was a bit of a revelation. i've never used lard before [it does have a bit of an image problem...!] but now i can tell it would be a great substitute for butter in some of my pastries and cookies, making them totally dairy free.

thanks heaps for providing the recipes for our dinner tonight, i'll have to report on the otak otak tomorrow night!

Re: The Silk Road

hey thanks for the siew mai recipe, i'll be opening my own teahouse for the locals soon!!

we had those at a dim sum restaurant once and they each had a single green pea on top for decoration!! we thought it was hilarious for some reason... i guess it's probably because peas usually hang around in their thousands...?!

Re: The Silk Road

OH MY GOD I can't believe you substituted coconut milk for the evap! Can't imagine what the flaovour would be like man...might I suggest using soy milk next time,it'll be more subtle and hence a stronger mango flavour will show. As for agar agar, the trick is to sprinkle it evenly over the cold water and leave it to "bloom" for a while, before adding the sugar and boiling. Use a whisk also to ensure it dissolves completely. Better yet, after whisking the life out of it, to make doubly sure, pour it gently thru a fine sieve to catch any horrifying lumps. This will ensure a smoother pudding in general. Sheesh I never knew you were allergic to dairy and wheat you should have said so earlier...now I feel bad that you didn't enjoy the original flavour of the dishes! As a result, let me leave you with a lovely sago pudding with coconut sugar syrup (kinda like a rice pudding, only with a nice Peranakan flavour to it!) It's dairy free,wheat free,should be a blast!

HOW:
Heat the coconut milk with the pandan leaves for 5minutes to infuse,whisk in 1/2 tsp salt and 1tbsp sugar. Leave to cool, remove pandan leaves and chill in a jug.
Soak sago in water for 5mins, drain well in a colander.
Bring 625ml water to the boil in a deep saucepan,lower heat, pour in sago and keep stirring till sago turns transparent.
Drain with a strainer, leave to stand under cold running water for 3 minutes. Drain excess water, and pour sago into a bowl. Add 1/4tsp salt and 3tbsp sugar, stir well. Scoop into a jelly mould to set in the fridge.
Boil both sugars in 300ml water till syrupy. Strain into a jug,allow to cool.
Cut pudding into wedges, serve with chilled coconut milk and syrup, yummy!

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